LGBT Megadonor Targets Christians: 'We're Going to Punish the Wicked'

Openly gay LGBT activist Tim Gill, who has poured $422 million into the homosexual movement since the 1990s, recently told Rolling Stone why he won't allow Christians to opt out of participating in same-sex weddings.

"We're going to punish the wicked," Gill told Rolling Stone. After the 2015 Supreme Court decision Obergefell v. Hodges legalized same-sex marriage across the country, Gill turned his activism apparatus against religious freedom restoration acts (RFRAs) and toward a legal mentality that would penalize Christians, and anyone else in business, who refuse to participate in a same-sex wedding.

"In the wake of Obergefell, ... some donors and activists declared victory and moved on," Rolling Stone's Andy Kroll explained. "But Gill insists the LGBTQ civil-rights movement is far from finished: In 28 states, it's still legal to discriminate against LGBTQ people in housing, employment and public accommodations like restaurants, hotels and restrooms."

It may not be surprising to see Rolling Stone so misrepresent the situation like this (see "UVA rape scandal"). But the record needs to be set straight: The "public accommodations" push is exactly the line LGBT activists use to undercut Christians' freedom to opt out of serving same-sex weddings.

Concrete court cases reveal the falseness of this "discrimination" narrative. A Washington state florist and Oregon bakers were fined for refusing to serve same-sex weddings, but they each gladly served the lesbian and gay people who requested wedding services. In both cases, they refused to serve a wedding, fearing that such service would be a public endorsement of something they believed a perversion of marriage.

Under Obergefell, same-sex couples can get married. But a wedding ceremony is still a private event, and people should not be forced to celebrate it, if such a ceremony is opposed to their convictions. This isn't just an issue of religious freedom — it also involves free speech and free association.

But public accommodation laws have become a cudgel by which LGBT activists attempt to force people to violate their consciences. Indeed, an LGBT group in Ohio actually announced plans to try to force churches to host same-sex weddings on their property. A Christian farmer and his wife in Michigan were excluded from a farmer's market because they posted on Facebook that they would not host a same-sex wedding on their own property.

In March, the ACLU sued a Sacramento Catholic hospital, even after the hospital helped a transgender patient find another hospital at which to have "his" hysterectomy. The ACLU's lawsuit makes it clear that this debate isn't about access — it's about forcing people to violate their religious convictions.

Last month, the Supreme Court announced that it will consider the case of Colorado baker Jack Phillips, who also refused to bake a cake for a same-sex wedding. Like the Washington florist, the Oregon baker, and the Michigan farmer, Phillips gladly served LGBT people, he just would not endorse a public event which violated his beliefs.